ACLT: Beverley De-Gale awarded OBE

Saturday June 11th 2011 marks the day that co-founder of leading UK Leukaemia charity, African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), Beverley De-Gale, is awarded with an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's Birthday 2011 Honours List by the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary in recognition For services to Healthcare.

Beverley De-Gale said: "I am both proud and delighted to be awarded this honour by Her Majesty the Queen for my services to Healthcare in Britain and I feel very honoured to accept it on behalf of my children, late mother & father, family, and everyone associated with the life saving and groundbreaking work of the ACLT.

It was during 1996 my partner (ACLT co-founder Orin Lewis) and I received the devastating news our 8 year old son Daniel De-Gale, would need a life saving bone marrow transplant in order to win his 3 year battle against Leukaemia. I never could have imagined that I would be standing here 15 years later in the exact month of when the charity was born and almost to the day on the 16th June 1999 when Daniel finally received his transplant.

However as much as I feel completely overwhelmed with emotion and pride receiving this momentous personal accolade it is also tinged with a feeling of bitter sweetness, because the catalyst and inspiration for this award, Daniel, is now no longer with us having succumbed to an unrelated illness at the age of 21 in October 2008.

Having recruited tens of thousands of new bone marrow, blood and organ donors from the hardest to reach communities and in turn directly saving lives in the UK and abroad, it does fill me with joy that our efforts have been recognised and is held in such high regard.

My deepest thanks and gratitude goes out to all of the many individuals (especially our loyal and fantastic small team of staff and volunteers), communities, organisations and families of patients who have supported me and the ACLT in our never ending quest to educate, motivate, inspire, empower and influence individuals to step forward and commit to becoming potential lifesavers.

Special thanks and love to my brothers and sisters and Daniel's donor, Doreene Carney, for their support especially during the many dark and painful episodes of this journey and when I receive the award at the Investiture I will also be thinking about how proud my late mother and father would be of me.

Finally, it is due to the undiluted love and support of my beloved daughter, Dominique, Orin and of course Daniel that I have been able to achieve and make a difference to someone in need. They have always had faith in me and believed in me and if Daniel was physically still with us today, he would easily sum it all up in 2 words. GOOD TIMES"

The OBE award arrives at a significant time for the ACLT, following a successful appeal where over £120,000 was raised by the general public between January – March this year, to help secure the short to medium future of the charity. The ACLT continue to work hard in spreading awareness on Bone Marrow, Blood and Organ donation within the Black, Asian and Mixed Race communities in the UK, encouraging individuals to join the registers in the hope their donation could potentially become a life saving match.

Pictured:  Beverley De-Gale (left) Daniel and Orin Lewis.